Elemetaries offer Playstations for supplemental education

March 02, 2005|By Nicole Laskowski, Staff Writer

GAYLORD - Welcome to the Land of Googol. A world erupting in egg madness. In one building, the Land of Googol is trying to ship out boxes of eggs, but production has slowed due to disorganization. What happens when four eggs are already in the box? How many more eggs would make nine?

As the latest supplemental education service (SES), the Land of Googol and other games are being introduced to K-3 at North Ohio and South Maple elementary schools.

"The state of Michigan puts up more benchmarks each year. We have so many objectives, but we don't have the time to teach them anymore," said Diane Misner, an educational consultant for Plato Learning Inc. and a former teacher and principal for Kalamazoo schools. "These games will extend the educational day for children."

Not only do educators at Gaylord Community Schools (GCS) hope the SES will help stretch the educational day for the students, but also that it will encourage parental involvement in education.

Advertisement

"In the Land of Googol, students pack up the eggs and ship them out. They don't realize they are learning objectives," explained Misner to a group of parents, students and tutors participating in the program. "The programs are all aligned to Michigan standards and benchmarks for 2004."

Because Gaylord Intermediate Schools (GIS) failed to meet adequate yearly progress two years in a row, the federal government mandates that at least 20 percent of the Title I funds GCS receives based on the socio-economic level of district families has to be dedicated to an SES.

"We wanted the program to start small and manageable," said Jackie Burden, director of curriculum and special programs. "And we wanted something that aligned with the daily work."

Both North Ohio and South Maple are eligible to participate in the SES program because they act as feeder schools to GIS. However, this year GIS has decided not to participate in the program and, according to Burden, asked that GCS concentrate on K-3 and special education.

Students are enrolled in the after-school program that meets once a week. Each student is tested and a learning path is created.

"We find out what kind of learning needs to take place and create a learning template which gives a learning path highlighting where the strengths and weaknesses are," said Misner.

They take home one of the 62 Playstations, complete with LCD screens, now owned by GCS and paid for through Title I funds and keep it for the rest of the year.

They will then transport a different "game" or CD-ROM to and from home and are encouraged to spend at least 15-20 minutes a night playing games that highlight skills like mental math, estimation, basic addition and subtraction, problem solving and vocabulary. All of the games students take home with them are skills already introduced by a teacher in the classroom.

On top of stretching the educational day for these students, Burden and Misner both stress parental involvement with these activities.

"We need to get closer to the families," Burden said. "We need to host more meetings and have more families come."

Burden hopes some of the students participating in the SES program will give a demonstration at either the March or April school board meeting.